Musing Monday (February 23)

Hosted by Should Be Reading
Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

I’m currently reading…

Up next I think I’ll read…

I bought the following book(s) in the past week…

I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…

I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…

I can’t wait to get a copy of…

I wish I could read ___, but…

I blogged about ____ this past week…

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: Do you enjoy debating / discussing the books that others are currently reading? Why, or why not?

I do like discussing books that others are reading especially if I have read the book but I am conscious that this is ultimately a book review blog and I would hate to give spoilers to other readers. For that reason some of the discussions need to be done in code!

I am currently reading The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson which was published on 19 February 2015.

Blurb

‘Hello there.’
I looked at the pale, freckled hand on the back of the empty bar seat next to me in the business class lounge of Heathrow airport, then up into the stranger’s face.
‘Do I know you?’
Delayed in London, Ted Severson meets a woman at the airport bar. Over cocktails they tell each other rather more than they should, and a dark plan is hatched – but are either of them being serious, could they actually go through with it and, if they did, what would be their chances of getting away with it?
Back in Boston, Ted’s wife Miranda is busy site managing the construction of their dream home, a beautiful house out on the Maine coastline. But what secrets is she carrying and to what lengths might she go to protect the vision she has of her deserved future?
A sublimely plotted novel of trust and betrayal, The Kind Worth Killing will keep you gripped and guessing late into the night. NetGalley

I have just finished Silent Scream by Angela Marsons because I couldn’t resist the frenzy surrounding its release last week, it turns out that the frenzy was justified which is great because I believe we won’t have to wait too long for the next book Evil Games.My review will follow soon

Blurb

Even the darkest secrets can’t stay buried forever…
Five figures gather round a shallow grave. They had all taken turns to dig. An adult-sized hole would have taken longer. An innocent life had been taken but the pact had been made. Their secrets would be buried, bound in blood …
Years later, a headmistress is found brutally strangled, the first in a spate of gruesome murders which shock the Black Country.
But when human remains are discovered at a former children’s home, disturbing secrets are also unearthed. D.I. Kim Stone fast realises she’s on the hunt for a twisted individual whose killing spree spans decades.
As the body count rises, Kim needs to stop the murderer before they strike again. But to catch the killer, can Kim confront the demons of her own past before it’s too late? NetGalley

Up next is The Abrupt Physics of Dying by Paul E Hardisty

Blurb

Claymore Straker is trying to forget a violent past. Working as an oil company engineer in the wilds of Yemen, he is hijacked at gunpoint by Islamic terrorists. Clay has a choice: help uncover the cause of a mysterious sickness afflicting the village of Al Urush, close to the company’s oil-processing facility, or watch Abdulkader, his driver and close friend, die. As the country descends into civil war and village children start dying, Clay finds himself caught up in a ruthless struggle between opposing armies, controllers of the country’s oil wealth, Yemen’s shadowy secret service, and rival terrorist factions. As Clay scrambles to keep his friend alive, he meets Rania, a troubled journalist. Together, they try to uncover the truth about Al Urush. But nothing in this ancient, unforgiving place is as it seems. Accused of a murder he did not commit, put on the CIA’s most-wanted list, Clay must come to terms with his past and confront the powerful forces that want him dead. A stunning debut eco-thriller, The Abrupt Physics of Dying is largely based on true events – the horrific destruction of fresh water and lives by oil giants. Gritty, gripping and shocking, this book will not only open your eyes but keep them glued to the page until the final, stunning denouement is reached. Amazon

Cleo – I know what you mean about not wanting to give away too much when you discuss books you’re currently reading. I’m that way, too. And sometimes it’s hard for me to discuss a topic on my blog for exactly that kind of reason. Your book choices look really interesting, and I’m looking forward to your reviews of them.

It is such a hard balance to get right, some books it seems impossible to say anything meaningful without risking spoiling the book for others yet I really enjoy discussing my reads. You have hit a balance with the way you create your posts, by talking about a specific element rather than the plot as a whole you give us a taste of what’s there in a way that it’s unlikely to spoil the plot although I’m sure it is anything but easy to create. I’m on a bit of a roll with good books at the moment….

I think it’s ok to discuss books you’re currently reading as long as the spoiler alert is given loud and clear. I used to never talk spoilers on my blog, but recently wrote a spoiler post (with proper alerts, of course!) about The Girl on the Train and it’s gotten more hits than any other post in the history of my blog. But, I really don’t like it when inadvertent spoilers or even too many plot details are included in regular reviews. And, I feel like that’s been happening a lot lately…even in the publisher’s blurbs!

I loved the discussion post you did on The Girl On The Train and as you say because you kindly posted spoiler alerts it was great to take part in but it has to be a deliberate choice because I hate reading something that spoils a book for me. That’s one reason why I love blogging as I know which bloggers are careful and as you say even some of the publisher’s aren’t as cautious as they should be in their eagerness to sell the book!

I don’t really like reading to anyone else’s order which makes those types of discussions hard to join in with…. I only want to discuss books I’ve already read, if I want to read them I need to discover the good stuff for myself.

I am all for making sure you don’t SPOIL someone’s enjoyment of a book and keeping certain details under wraps. Or providing a warning that you’re going to give away something at a certain point in your review.

Yes I love discussing books, and eagerly wait for friends to finish the books I’ve pressed on them so we can talk about them. Revealing spoilers is a no no, and i think sometimes, in my reviews I try SO HARD to avoid giving information about plot or even the complexities of characters that i go too far the other way and am far to generalised and cryptic. I’m very admiring of reviews which give more information and DON’T spoil the journey.

As for ‘just finished’ – the wonderful, wonderful, wonderful (I must have liked it a bit then, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, a brilliant literary SciFi thriller,, review goes up Wednesdat, no spoilers, but a lot of enthusiastic and vague gushing!

And I’m now comfortably re-reading Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean At The End Of The Lane, for my online book group’s discussion next week. Nice when you already know ‘what happened next’ and can just take the journey again and enjoy favourite bits of the view more slowly.

It is so hard to get the balance right in giving a flavour of the book without spoiling the plot. I must read The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, I’ve heard a lot of good things about it although SciFi really isn’t my thing, but then I said I wanted to try something different in 2015.

No space ships, no aliens, no intergalactic battles in this one Cleopatra. It’s set in the twentieth century and the what-ifs about time and technology absolutely make it science fiction – but the author for sure is focusing on relationship between human beings as central.

I USED to think SF wasn’t my thing, years ago, till I discovered some excellent female writers in the genre, which I’d prior to that mistakenly thought was all about machines and intergalactic battles between giant earthworms and creatures with 3 red heads and 55 green bosoms (Martians meet Venusians)